Big Fish, I Love You!
by K. Petra
Summary: In order to set foot on land, mermaid princess Natsuki seeks help from the notorious Viola- who agrees to help her with a cost. Natsuki becomes human and meets the prince…Shiznat AU
1. Chapter 1

_**Big Fish, I Love You!**_

By K. Petra

_**Disclaimer:**_ I own nothing.

_**Summary:**_ In order to set foot on land, mermaid princess Natsuki seeks help from the notorious Viola- who agrees to help her with a cost. Natsuki becomes human and meets the prince…Shiznat AU

**Chapter One: _The Anticlimatic Birthday_**

Once upon a time in the great ocean kingdom of Fuuka, there lived a young mermaid princess named Natsuki.

Each day, princess Natsuki would enjoy swimming in the endless ocean with her many friends.

In the mornings as she went for a ride on her private dolphin, _Ducati_, the citizens in the kingdom of Fuuka would gather around to appreciate the peaceful sight.

Today was especially important, as it would be the first day in which our young princess would be allowed to swim to the surface for the first time.

The citizens sighed in anticipation.

Ahhhhh.

Sweet, innocent princess Natsuki. All grown up, and about to-

"Stupid Nao! Wait up!"

Okay, maybe not too sweet.

"Weren't we going to set off those jellyfish bombs in the ceremonial hall?"

Annnnd not so innocent.

In fact, the citizens of Fuuka had all been worried that despite how adorable their princess was when you got to know her, Natsuki's demeanor would chase off all the Fuukan mermen away before any of them had a chance to get close to her. And if this continues she would be on a one way trip to becoming an old maid. Make that old mermaid. Do you know how worrying that is? Especially since the only other option would be to marry her off to Takeda of the Kingdom of Eelmen. What would happen to the reputations for the mermaids of Fuuka if one of their most beautiful were to be married to…

Ahem.

Anyway, it is the dawn of the little mermaid's sixteenth birthday.

Natsuki's cousin, Nao, had come up with a marvelous plan for her to find love.

This shall be where the story begins.

* * *

"You ever heard that story, Kuga?"

The navy haired mermaid yawns in bored fashion, twirling some seaweed around her fingers.

"What story?"

Her red haired cousin smirks as she points towards the surface of the ocean.

"_The_ story, Doofus. There's a mermaid princess who went to the ocean top some years ago. She fell in love with some guy on land. Some say she grew legs and became human to stay with him. Others say she turned to bubbles and died of a broken heart."

Natsuki frowned.

"Why would I be interested in a cheezy story like that?"

Nao smiles mischievously, grabbing her cousin around the shoulders.

"You're a mermaid princess. And today will be the first day you'll be officially allowed to go above surface. Who knows, maybe you'll end up meeting a land lover and fall in-"

The mermaid princess shrugs, tearing off the seaweed and braiding it.

"Tch. Been there, done that. Where do you think I've gone to the past few times I'd ditched marine biology?"

Not letting up on her attempt, Nao grins even wider.

"Ahhh. But have you ever set a fin on _land_?"

Natsuki eyes her with one eyebrow raised, unimpressed. She lets go of the braided seaweed, moving upwards to find something more interesting.

"There's plenty of stuff to do here. Why would I want to go on land?"

Swimming merrily a few feet away, Nao chants in a song-song voice.

"Natsu-ki-chan. Are you afraid?"

The princess growls, darting past her cousin towards the face of the water in a huff. A school of sea horses quickly scatter to avoid colliding with the princess.

"As if!"

Nao continues her taunting, clapping her hands together.

"I dare you then. Go on land for a few days to prove your courage."

At this Natsuki stops to look at her cousin suspiciously.

"Why would I need to prove myself to you?"

Nao laughs.

"All in the name of Fuuka, dear cousin. I hear the humans have created this…substance called 'mayonnaise'. Creamy, white, heavenly to taste…but it's made out of fish fat!"

Natsuki raises her hands into fists, outraged.

"That's cannibalism! How evil of them!"

The other mermaid nods encouragingly.

"Precisely! If you can catch that person and bring them down here for justice, you'll be a hero to our citizens."

With a finger on her right cheek, Natsuki ponders on the idea.

"But how would I be able to travel and breathe on land?"

Inwardly congratulating herself for her success, the shorter mermaid guides the princess towards a sparsely inhabited area of the ocean depths.

"I know just the person to help you with that…"

And thus begins the journey of our heroic princess as she sets off towards the wide chasm on the ocean floor with her mighty dolphin steed.

* * *

End.

_**Next Chapter Preview: **_

"Octopus!" Natsuki screamed.

Viola rubs her temple. _Is she calling me fat?_

"_Hy-dra_. What part of hydra do you not understand?"

_**A/N: **_I'm not too sure if this is a good idea or not. Is it good? Bad? Should I continue? Please tell me what you think


	2. Chapter 2

_**Big Fish, I Love You!**_

By K. Petra

_**Disclaimer:**_ I own nothing.

**Chapter Two**

Unnoticed by the kingdom below, the skies above Princess Natsuki's kingdom is beginning to darken ominously.

The wind howls while clouds thunder and crackle.

A large downpour of rain battles violently with the waves below for supremacy.

And on a gallant ship in the midst of it all…

A young and handsome prince is returning to his kingdom for the first time.

Beneath the torrential rain he stands, bravely leaning against the deck of the ship despite protest from his most loyal servants.

"You highness. It is too dangerous out here! You must enter the lower deck at once, where it is safe-"

The prince pauses to give his companions a charming smile and they pause, hearts thrown into chaos.

"My dear good noblemen…"

They gasp at the smooth and mellow voice.

_/Good lord and mother of all that is holy. Do not tell me now that I am gay for his highness?/_

"Fetch me a bar of soap, will you?'

A collective thump can be heard upon the wooden deck as the entire crew nearby falls.

Whether from the shock of his words or a lurch of the ship, they will never know.

_/Oh wait no. Nope. He's deceivingly appealing when he doesn't talk. Damn those royal good looks!/_

Seeing the lack of a reply, the prince frowns, showing his nicely white teeth as he raises his voice.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a shower around here? I've been on this blasted ship for days! Days, you hear me! No bath, no shower, no nothing! What does a prince have to do to maintain his royal hygiene? And now that we've been given free water, you're trying to deny me of my-"

The main mast of the ship breaks in half while all (most anyway) hand on board rushes to save the ship, interrupting the prince's rant.

The waves suddenly turn into a whirlpool, sucking the ship downwards to the water below.

Deeply hurt by being overlooked, Prince Reito decides to take matters into his own hands by jumping in.

Oh well.

They say salt baths are good for the skin anyway.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the abyss directly below the whirlpool…

"Ah-choo!"

Viola the ancient and sacred hydra extraordinaire wipes her nose.

"Whoops. Who turned off my hot air vents? It's freezing down here."

* * *

As we get back to our main hero of the story, we find Natsuki currently swimming towards a dark ocean chasm where the fabled Merwitch resides.

Careful to not make any mistakes, she replays Nao's instructions in her mind.

"_Her name is….Violet? Violin? Virulent? Anyway I don't remember. They say she can do anything- but at a price._

_When you first go down there, be careful of the change in pressure. They say the pressure's so harsh, all those who dared enter the witch's lair have heard a loud roar in their ears before losing their hearing entirely._

_So plug your ears up with some seaweed or something."_

Brushing dark bluish-black hair back behind her ears, she fumbles to make sure her earplugs are firmly in place when a sudden strident echo catches her by surprise.

"HOW DARE YOU ENTER THIS REALM!"

Heart beating fast, our fair mermaid princess twists and turns around in search for the source of the speaker.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE HERE?" the creature thunders.

She deduces that in order to pierce through her ear protection, the voice must have come from someone powerful. A huge sea monster.

The seawitch, perhaps.

At that thought, she inclines her head towards the direction of the chasm below and hollers.

"I am Natsuki, princess of the Fuukan Kingdom. I've come to see the-"

"SHE'S NOT TAKING ANY VISITORS! AND IF YOU DARE PROCEED ONWARDS I SWEAR YOU WILL REGRET IT." the voice interrupts.

At this Natsuki frowns, still looking around in search of sea creature that was speaking.

"UP HERE YOU DIMWIT!"

A tiny fantail filefish was splashing around near her shoulder, and Natsuki brushes it aside in her hunt for the voice.

"DAMNIT. I AM HARUKA, GUARDIAN OF THESE WATERS! AND I WILL NOT HAVE YOU PUSH ME ASIDE IN SUCH COWARDLY MANNER!"

The blond fantailed filefish swims over to poke her in the eyes.

"Owww!"

Natsuki gapes, rubbing her sore eyes.

"You mean you're the witch!?"

The fish continues her attack with gusto.

"HA! NEVER SAID I WAS HER."

Irritated, Natsuki flicks Haruka away and passes through the entrance.

"HEY!"

"No offense, but not even a school of you will be able to stop me. Though I'm betting that you're the source of the ear popping pressure everyone's been taking about…"

With a snort, the mermaid princess swam onward with Haruka screeching closely behind.

* * *

"Ara, what do we have here? I could have sworn that no one would be able to survive Haruka's constant nagging, but…"

The seawitch leans against the golden throne dressed in stunning red.

A multi-headed snake is draped around her shoulders, and she pets it idly as she watches Natsuki approach with interest.

The mermaid princess, for the moment, is nervously swimming closer to the grandiose figure.

She has never seen someone having enough gall to dress in red before.

It makes sense not to, really. When in the ocean, red seafood equals fully cooked and ready to eat…

Though the woman does look quite attractively edible, if our princess has to say so herse-

Natsuki quickly shakes her head to send the odd thought away.

Green eyes narrow as Natsuki wades closer, curiously examining the figure in front of her.

Red is like saying, _eat me!_, (no Natsuki pervert! Not in _that_ way) no one in their right mind would want to wear something like that.

Unless it's part of her skin?

Scales?

Natsuki's eyes widen as realization hits.

"Red octopus!"

The merwitch's eyebrow twitches, yet she smiles, charmingly.

"Ahem. You mean, learnaean hydra. As I was saying, I am impressed that you were able to get past my gate guardian. What is it that you seek, my good maiden?"

Yet Natsuki is still in shock.

"Octopus! The merwitch is an octopus!"

Viola blinks.

"Uhm….you're not getting what I'm saying here-"

"Octopus!" Natsuki screams.

Viola rubs her temple. _Is she calling me fat?_

"_Hy-dra_. What part of hydra do you not understand?"

At this, a thunderous burst of laughter from Haruka interrupts Natsuki's musing.

"OCTOPUS! HAHAHAHA."

The respectable, deceivingly octopus-like sea hydra sighs.

_Why did I trick her into guarding outside my gate again?_

"THAT'S A GOOD ONE!" Haruka guffaws.

_Oh wait. That's right. Because it was getting too unbearable to hear her loud voice inside my home._

"Haruka-san. If you're here then who will be able to protect us all from intruders?"

The filefish smirks, jutting her chest proudly as she heads back out.

"THAT'S RIGHT. AND NOW YOU KNOW HOW IMPORTANT MY WORK IS AROUND HERE."

As Haruka exits, Viola turns her attention back to the puzzled-looking girl in front of her, who is busy pulling out her earplugs.

"So," Natsuki begins, "You're the merwitch, right? I need your help to get on land."

The hydra frowns, disappointed.

"Let me guess. You want to know how it feels like to walk. You've heard all those things about a handsome prince and you want to meet him?"

Natsuki's mouth hangs open, flabbergasted.

"What? No way! I heard of this stuff called mayonnaise that the cannibals on land have been consuming. I've decided to go and punish them for eating us fish!"

At this, Viola looks at the mermaid in a new sort of light.

_I've never seen a mermaid like her before,_ she thinks_. This might be more fun than I thought. Granted, the child is horribly misguided. Fish mayonnaise? Where did she get that from?_

The crimson eyed sea creature/woman swims around the girl wonderingly, tapping her chin with a single finger.

"Hmm. I can help you breathe on land and gain a pair of legs. But, the spell will expire within one full cycle of the moon and you will turn back into a mermaid unless you find a way to break it through true love's kiss."

Natsuki grins.

"Great! I don't plan to stay there anyway. Let's do it!"

Viola circles above the princess, muttering her spell.

Once done, the magical sea creature clasps her hands together.

"Okay. The spell should be in effect the moment you set foot on land. Your payment will be taken one month from now. I will tell you what it is at that time."

With a quick word of thanks, and proudly reasoning that she would be able to afford anything the seawitch might want, Natsuki eagerly rushes off.

* * *

End.

_**Next Chapter Preview: **_

The mermaid princess swims upward, noticing a shadow near the surface.

With a wave of her tail, Natsuki glides towards the mysterious shape and looks at it.

Underneath the pale moonlight, the blue haired maiden sees the heart breakingly handsome face of the prince.

"Ehhh," Natsuki shrugs, "Not my problem."

With that, she swims ashore as the fair prince sinks lower and lower into the ocean, unconscious.

_**A/N: **_Like it? Don't like it? Please tell me what you think. Reviews = inspiration!

_**Review replies:**_

**kimou-san:** Thanks for the review! I had to translate it to understand what it means, but now that I know…it was very nice of you.

**Neslim:** Thank You for the review! I hope this new chapter did not disappoint.

**Platina GF:** Thanks for the review. I'm sorry for taking so long to update, but I definitely will continue this story.

** lazy to log: **Thanks for the tip! Though, I did know that mayonnaise is not made of fish. Poor Natsuki is just as clueless as ever. The fish mayonnaise is actually an important part of the story though…

**fbhd:** Thank You!

**seasofserentity: **Thank you and sorry for the delay.

**Neesi:** Thanks! I think mermaid Natsuki must be beautiful too.

**she-who-must-not-be-named: **I'm glad you enjoyed the preview. I was actually wondering if I should continue with a preview or not, but your review helped me decide.

**sylverlyf:** Thank you. I hope I will not disappoint.

**jo-Kaon17:** Thank You for the review. I am sorry for taking so long.

**oOYuuOo:** Thank you. I hope you were able to enjoy this chapter.


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